Julia Garner has garnered massive praise for her brilliant performance as the notorious SoHo scammer Anna Sorokin in Shonda Rhimes’ latest Netflix series, Inventing Anna. This Emmy-winning 28-year-old actress has successfully nailed a ridiculous accent for Sorokin, who became an American anti-hero after scamming the American elite with millions of dollars.
However, Garner had already proven her prolific acting skills as the cunning and cold Ruth Langmore in Ozark.
Starring Jason Bateman and Laura Linney, this crime thriller series has generated quite the fan following with its gloomy and intense premise. Every season, the Byrde family faces a new, daunting obstacle while dealing with various drug cartels and money laundering businesses.
In this underlying commentary about family ethics, human morality and integrity, Garner is iconic as the brutal local criminal Ruth Langmore, who is as Ruth-less as one can ever be.
Garner was, however, not sure if she would bag the role after the audition. Garner was frankly quite nervous while auditioning in a small New York casting office. Although she is from the Bronx, she decided to audition using the Missouri accent she had developed for a previous acting job.
“I wanted the job so bad that I actually prepared with a Missouri accent. And when I got to the audition, I could hear the other actors reading their lines and was like, ‘None of them have the accent, I’m screwed,'” she said.
Garner could not remember her lines without doing the accent. She continued, “So, I just had to do the accent—and it worked.” Although the audition did not go very well, in her opinion, she got a call back a week after, leaving her pleasantly surprised.
Always the method actor, Garner transformed herself completely to get into the character’s shoes. To sound “authentic”, she would “only speak in the accent” almost a month preceding the shoot for the show.
“I would walk around everywhere [using the accent]. I’d order my food with the accent. You kind of get a sense of the character [that way],” said Garner.
While the first part of the final season has already been released, the final volume of the fourth and final season will premiere on Netflix on April 29th, 2022, bringing this explosive series to an end.
Read our review of the first half of the fourth season here.
